Roots of Our Renewal: Ethnobotany and Cherokee Environmental Governance

by Clint Carroll

Honorable Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award

In Roots of Our Renewal, Clint Carroll tells how Cherokee people have developed material, spiritual, and political ties with the lands they have inhabited since removal from their homelands in the southeastern United States. Although the forced relocation of the late 1830s had devastating consequences for Cherokee society, Carroll shows that the reconstituted Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi eventually cultivated a special connection to the new land—a connection that is reflected in its management of natural resources. Until now, scant attention has been paid to the interplay between tribal natural resource management programs and governance models. Carroll is particularly interested in indigenous environmental governance along the continuum of resource-based and relationship-based practices and relates how the Cherokee Nation, while protecting tribal lands, is also incorporating associations with the nonhuman world. Carroll describes how the work of an elders’ advisory group has been instrumental to this goal since its formation in 2008. An enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Carroll draws from his ethnographic observations of Cherokee government–community partnerships during the past ten years. He argues that indigenous appropriations of modern state forms can articulate alternative ways of interacting with and “governing” the environment.

Genres: Indigenous, Environment, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2015

Reviews

[vic]

im gonna be honest bc no one reads these but this was kinda boring bc im more interested in plant relationships not governance lmao

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, following the history of Cherokee governance, how the political is inextricable from the environmental, and how a group of Cherokee are innovating on colonial forms of government. Written like a thesis, though. If you're not comfortable with the world "dialectical" (I wasn't), it takes some effort.

[Max Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

He frames his ethnography through the lens of Cherokee state formation (and transformation), and I was initially frustrated and skeptical of what he meant by the state. Then he defined it (inadequately) as "a cultural revolution" where culture is the material actions that we do and revolution is the process of how we make sense of the world. I found this framing frustrating, because the definition is still too vague, particularly because he went on to use it to mean government. He could have just said that he was looking at the process of the Cherokee government changing and adapting in conversation with the settler colonial incursion, as well as the popular Cherokee public and traditional culture. Other than this rhetorical semantic framing, I thought it was really interesting how the Cherokee people were able to be resilient in their resistance to settler colonialism.

[Dwreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is less about Cherokee Ethnobotany and more about the Cherokee relationship to the land, plants, and environment. It takes deep dive into the government of the CNO, the strengths and limitations of the corporate model of governance and looks at the work of an Elders group trying to bring plant and land conservation into a Cherokee context, as well as perpetuating the traditional knowledge of using plants, water, soil and animals for healing and health.

[Grace Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great case study of all the complications and possibilities wrapped up in academic/ tribal group collaborations. The author has a clear writing style that made it easy to read.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is super important but lord is she dry and dense

[Taylor Enlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brain ain’t big enough for this book